HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe who cautioned that it’s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals.
“The birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning. We must do more,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle.
The birth of the sacred calf comes as after a severe winter in 2023 drove thousands of Yellowstone buffalo, also known as bison, to lower elevations. More than 1,500 were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to reclaim stewardship over an animal their ancestors lived alongside for millennia.
Erin Braaten of Kalispell took several photos of the calf shortly after it was born on June 4 in the Lamar Valley in the northeastern corner of the park. Her family was visiting the park when she spotted “something really white” among a herd of bison across the Lamar River.
Traffic ended up stopping while bison crossed the road, so Braaten stuck her camera out the window to take a closer look with her telephoto lens.
“I look and it’s this white bison calf. And I was just totally, totally floored,” she said.
After the bison cleared the roadway, the Braatens turned their vehicle around and found a spot to park. They watched the calf and its mother for 30 to 45 minutes. “And then she kind of led it through the willows there,” Braaten said. Although Braaten came back each of the next two days, she didn’t see the white calf again.
For the Lakota, the birth of a white buffalo calf with a black nose, eyes and hooves is akin to the second coming of Jesus Christ, Looking Horse said.
Lakota legend says about 2,000 years ago — when nothing was good, food was running out and bison were disappearing — White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared, presented a bowl pipe and a bundle to a tribal member, taught them how to pray and said that the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food. As she left, she turned into a white buffalo calf. “And some day when the times are hard again,” Looking Horse said in relating the legend, “I shall return and stand upon the earth as a white buffalo calf, black nose, black eyes, black hooves.”
A similar white buffalo calf was born in Wisconsin in 1994 and was named Miracle, he said.
Troy Heinert, the executive director of the South Dakota-based InterTribal Buffalo Council, said the calf in Braaten’s photos looks like a true white buffalo because it has a black nose, black hooves and dark eyes. “From the pictures I’ve seen, that calf seems to have those traits,” said Heinert, who is Lakota. An albino buffalo would have pink eyes.
A naming ceremony has been held for the Yellowstone calf, Looking Horse said, though he declined to reveal the name. A ceremony celebrating the calf’s birth is set for June 26 at the Buffalo Field Campaign headquarters in West Yellowstone.
Other tribes also revere white buffalo. “Many tribes have their own story of why the white buffalo is so important,” Heinert said. “All stories go back to them being very sacred.”
Heinert and several members of the Buffalo Field Campaign say they’ve never heard of a white buffalo being born in Yellowstone, which has wild herds. Park officials had not seen the buffalo yet and could not confirm its birth in the park, and they have no record of a white buffalo being born in the park previously.
Jim Matheson, executive director of the National Bison Association, could not quantify how rare the calf is. “To my knowledge, no one’s ever tracked the occurrence of white buffalo being born throughout history. So I’m not sure how we can make a determination how often it occurs.”
Besides herds of the animals on public lands or overseen by conservation groups, about 80 tribes across the U.S. have more than 20,000 bison, a figure that’s been growing in recent years.
In Yellowstone and the surrounding area, the killing or removal of large numbers of bison happens almost every winter, under an agreement between federal and Montana agencies that has limited the size of the park’s herds to about 5,000 animals. Yellowstone officials last week proposed a slightly larger population of up to 6,000 bison, with a final decision expected next month.
But ranchers in Montana have long opposed increasing the Yellowstone herds or transferring the animals to tribes. Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has said he would not support any management plan with a population target greater than 3,000 Yellowstone bison.
Heinert sees the calf’s birth as a reminder “that we need to live in a good way and treat others with respect.” “I hope that calf is safe and gonna live its best life in Yellowstone National Park, exactly where it was designed to be.”
What could make a baby bison white?
In the wild, there are two genetic variations that may result in unusually light-colored animals — leucism and albinism. In both conditions, the animal inherits two copies of the gene mutation — one from each parent, who usually appear normally colored themselves.
Leucistic animals lack some cells that otherwise produce melanin, a natural pigment that gives color to fur, eyes, feathers and skin. Their bodies may appear almost entirely white, or only white in patches, and they generally have normal or dark-colored eyes.
Albinism, which is more rare, results from the complete absence of melanin. Albino animals are nearly totally white, and they may have light pink or orange-colored eyes and reduced vision. Albino bison will lack dark colors in their eyes, noses and hooves, said James Derr, a geneticist at Texas A&M University.
The Yellowstone calf, with its black nose and eyes, is not albino, said Jim Matheson, executive director of the National Bison Association.
There’s a third possibility: A light-colored calf could be the result of a bison crossed with a white domestic cow. In that case, the calf may be light tan-colored, with brown eyes and a black or brown nose, said Derr.
Matheson said that it’s unclear how often white bison calves are born in the wild.
“We just don’t know how often it happens because we’ve never tracked this in history,” he said.
BY AMY BETH HANSONUpdated 8:27 PM PDT, June 13, 2024
Associated Press reporter Matthew Brown contributed to this story from Billings, Mont.
Individual white buffalo Wikipedia Information
- In 1833, a white bison was killed by the Cheyenne. The Cheyenne killed this white bison during the Leonid Meteor Shower (The Night the Stars Fell) and scribed a peace and trade treaty on its skin. This event was documented by historian Josiah Gregg and other travelers on the Santa Fe Trail.
- On October 7, 1876, a buffalo hunter named J. Wright Mooar killed a white buffalo in the Deep Creek drainage near Snyder, Texas. He retained the hide his entire life, despite reports that Theodore Roosevelt offered him $5000 for the hide. White Buffalo Park is presently located near the site of the shooting, and an adjacent ranch is the current resting place of the hide.
- A bison named Big Medicine (1933–1959) was born in the wild on the National Bison Range on Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. The name “Big Medicine” was chosen due to the sacred power attributed to white bison. Following its death in 1959, its body was preserved and is being displayed at the Montana Historical Society in Helena.
- A white buffalo was recorded at the U.S. Army Arctic Testing Center, Fort Greely, Alaska. There is a copyrighted photograph of it in Seeing the White Buffalo by Robert Pickering. This buffalo was part of a herd that had been relocated from Montana.
- A female named Miracle (not to be confused with Miracle Moon), was born at the family farm of Dave, Valerie, and Corey Heider near Janesville, Wisconsin, on August 20, 1994. Her fur fully transitioned to brown as she matured, and she gave birth to four calves of her own before dying of natural causes on September 19, 2004. Additionally, a calf born at the Heider farm died aged 4 days in 1996. A third white calf was born in August 2006 which died after being struck by lightning in November of the same year. Kathleen Buerer wrote a memoir about her 1994 visits to Miracle, “By the Side of the Buffalo Pasture”.
- Medicine Wheel, a white buffalo was born on May 9, 1996, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, SD on the Merrival farm. In 2000, Medicine Wheel escaped his pasture and was shot by a tribal police officer.
- Mahpiya Ska (Sioux language) or White Cloud was an albino female buffalo born on July 10, 1996, at Shirek Buffalo Ranch. After her birth, she was loaned to the City of Jamestown, North Dakota, where she lived out the most of her life. Through genetic testing, she was certified a true Albino American Bison. She died on November 14, 2016, shortly after being returned to her birthplace.
- White Cloud had a white calf on August 31, 2007, which was named Dakota Miracle. While Dakota Miracle was white like his mother, he was not a true albino. He lived out his entire life at the National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown before dying on June 28, 2019, due to complications from leucism.
- Spirit Mountain Ranch donated a herd of white buffalo to the Sacred World Peace Church and Alliance, The SWPA has successfully bred six generations of white buffalo starting from a single white female, almost all with brown fathers. Their herd includes 17 white buffalo as of February 23, 2015:
- Miracle Moon (female, born April 30, 1997), calf of Big Momma (brown). Miracle Moon (the first white of this line) has been DNA tested, and is shown to be 100% buffalo, or bison.
- Rainbow Spirit (female, born June 8, 2000, calf of Miracle Moon)
- Mandela Peace Pilgrim (female, born July 18, 2001, calf of Miracle Moon)
- Arizona Spirit (male, born July 1, 2002, calf of Miracle Moon)
- Sunrise Spirit (female, born May 22, 2004, calf of Mandela Peace Pilgrim)
- Spirit Thunder (male, born May 27, 2004, calf of Rainbow Spirit)
- Chief Hiawatha (male, born May 16, 2005, calf of Miracle Moon)
- Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo in Tupelo, Mississippi, owns a white buffalo bull named Tukota (“Too-ko-ta”)
- A male white buffalo named Spirit of Peace was born on April 17, 2005, on the Blatz Bison Ranch in Fort St. John, British Columbia. Spirit of Peace died on June 1 of the same year, probably as a result of his premature birth.
- A female white buffalo calf was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, on June 3, 2005, at Buffalo Crossing, a buffalo ranch and tourist facility. She was named Cante Pejute (Medicine Heart in the Lakota language) in a traditional ceremony led by Steve McCullough, a Lakota/Shawnee from Indiana.
- A male named Blizzard was born in March 2006 on the farm of an anonymous rancher, who arranged to have the calf transported to Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in recognition of his spiritual significance to aboriginal people.
- A third white buffalo was born on the Heider farm on August 25, 2006. The male calf was named Miracle’s Second Chance and was unrelated to Miracle. The Heiders planned to breed the male with the descendants of Miracle, but during a thunderstorm late November 26, 2006, five buffalo on the Heider farm were killed in a lightning strike, including Miracle’s Second Chance.
- Lightning, formerly known as Kenahkihinén (Kĕ-Nah‛-Ki-Nĕn, from the Lenape language meaning ‘Watch Over Us’), a male white buffalo, was born November 12, 2006, at Woodland Zoo in Farmington, Pennsylvania.
- On May 31, 2008, a third white calf was born to a normal brown two-year-old at the National Buffalo Museum, Jamestown, North Dakota.
- On May 9, 2011, a white buffalo calf Silver Spirit was born to Mother Miracle Moon
- On May 12, 2011, a white male buffalo calf named Lightning Medicine Cloud (Wakinya Pejuta Mahpiya in Lakota) was born near Greenville, Texas during a thunderstorm on the ranch of Arby Little Soldier. In May 2012, less than year after its birth, Lightning Medicine Cloud was found dead, thought to have been butchered and skinned by an unknown individual; his mother was found dead the next day. A necropsy determined that they died of natural causes, from a bacterial infection called blackleg. In April 2012, Lightning Medicine Cloud’s father was killed by a lightning strike.
- On June 16, 2012, a white male buffalo calf was born on Peter Fay’s dairy farm in Goshen, Connecticut. The calf was temporarily called Tatanka Ska (‘white buffalo’ in Lakota). Four elders from the Oglala Sioux Tribe, along with Fay and members of the Lakota, Seneca, Mohawk, and Cayuga tribes, performed a naming ceremony on July 28 at the farm; the calf was named Yellow Medicine Dancing Boy. Fay plans to care for the buffalo rather than sell it for meat.
- On July 4, 2012, a white female buffalo calf named “Baby” was born on Steve and Carol Sarff’s Countryside Buffalo Ranch in Avon, Minnesota. She died on July 20.
- On May 7, 2016, a white buffalo mother gave birth to a white male buffalo calf at Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in Manitoba. As of 2022, there are eight white buffalo in Sioux Valley.
- White buffalo can be found in the village of Questa, New Mexico.
- Ghostbuster, a white female buffalo, was donated to the City of Hays, KS in the summer of 2017 by a local rancher (http://www.visithays.com/193/Bison-Herd)
- On March 29, 2018, a white female buffalo calf named “Dušanka” was born at the Belgrade Zoo, Serbia. She was named after the Christian holiday of Pentecost.
- On October 30, 2018, a white buffalo calf was born on Lakota Territorial land.
- In June 2020, a white buffalo named ‘Faith’ was born at Bitterroot Bison in Lolo, Montana. She was moved to a sanctuary to be kept safe after discovering that she was blind.
- In December 2020, Wildlife Prairie Park obtained two leucistic white bison from a farm where they were kept as pets: the male Tatanka and female Lakota. Tatanka and Lakota had one offspring in April 2021, Tallulah, who is also white. Tatanka died shortly after showing signs of illness in October 2022. Lakota gave birth to another white bison in February 2023.
- May 3, 2021, White Buffalo calf Snow Moon was born on Siksika Nation.
- June 16, 2022, a white buffalo calf was born on the land of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe in Belcourt, North Dakota.